


First Sight

by aldojlc



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Before the Prequels, Could Be Canon, Destiny, Fate, House Naberrie, Or maybe AU, Star-crossed, The Naberries, Will of the Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-04 03:17:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14583771
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aldojlc/pseuds/aldojlc
Summary: Five year old Padme Naberrie is travelling with her family on a trip and meets someone that will change her life forever.





	First Sight

"Are we there yet?"

Five year old Padme Naberrie was restless. This was her first trip away from Naboo. When he wasn't teaching at the University, her father Ruwee volunteered his time to the Refugee Relief Movement. His work sometimes took him to the riskier parts of the galaxy, but on this occasion he felt that it was safe enough to bring his family along with him.

"Daddy, can you make Padme be quiet? My head hurts." Ruwee shook his head in exhaustion. Sola had been irritable this trip from the moment they had left Naboo. Their small emdee droid had diagnosed her with the Corellian flu, but they had not brought any medication with them, so the eight year old child could only lie and wait uncomfortably as they made their way towards their destination.

"It's okay, Sola. Padme doesn't mean to cause you any pain," said her grandmother Winama, putting a comforting hand on the child's forehead.

"Can they turn this ship around? I just want to go home. I never even wanted to go on this stupid trip anyway," she mumbled.

Ruwee looked down at his feet glumly. "Perhaps we should have let her stay home. She misses her mom."

"Ruwee, she can't stay sheltered for the rest of her life. Not like her mother. We'll get the painkillers once we make landfall, and she'll be alright."

He didn't like it when his mother criticized his wife. Jobal wasn't perfect, but Ruwee loved her deeply, including her idiosyncrasies. He kept quiet though. Winama didn't speak ill of her often, and she didn't have any ill intent to her words either. It was better to let her statement go rather than object and create more tension in their family. Plus, he was more concerned by the pain his daughter was in right now.

"When's the last time she left Naboo, anyway?"

Ruwee pondered the question for a few moments. "More than ten years ago, I think. Before Sola was born. We went to her sister's wedding on Carida." He noticed the disapproving expression on his mother's face. "Jobal's happy where she is, mother. She has no urge to see new places, and I think our elder daughter feels the same way. She's always been closer to her mother."

"She wants to be with the boy too." Padme blurted out.

"Boy?" Ruwee didn't like this new revelation. He glanced down at Sola, but thankfully she had fallen asleep.

"I think Paddy's talking about Darred. He's a really nice boy from school."

"You've met him then?" Padme sensed both amusement and an anxious tone in her father's voice, and she wondered why he seemed so fixated on what she said.

"She brought him home a few times after school to do homework. Jobal and I baked cookies for them. They're rather cute together, I think."

"So everyone knows about this boy except for me. Even Padme." Ruwee hid his smile.

"It's just a harmless crush," Winama said. "They're friends, they get along, and I think he's helping Sola come out of her shell a little." Winama had been concerned that her older granddaughter was not making as many friends as she should be in school, but she had noticed in her daily walks by the schoolyard that Sola had seemed a lot more social in recent weeks, running around with the other kids rather than eating her sandwich alone on a small bench.

Ruwee smiled. "Thanks mama. I'm glad you're able to keep an eye on her when I can't. It's just the University can be so busy sometimes, especially come exam season. And don't even get me started on all the research I'm still way behind on for my next publication."

Padme sensed that the tension in the room had eased now, and wanted the attention on herself again. "I'm gonna go to every star and planet one of these days, Daddy, and I'm not gonna let some stinky boy stop me," she proclaimed proudly while looking out the viewport. As young as she was, she meant every word she said.

"I'd be very happy if you kept that promise," Ruwee said wryly. It wasn't that he was worried about this boy in Sola's life now, but it did prove a stark reminder of why he fully expected his hair to turn grey in five years or so. "And Sola too. Sola?"

For a moment, he thought he stopped breathing. His daughter's face had turned ashy white.

"Sola!" There was no response. He frantically brought his face down to hers and felt for her breath. She was still breathing, barely, but was not responsive even as they all kept trying to wake her up.

"The nearest hospital is the Polis Massa Station." Ruwee checked the coordinates again, trying to calm his own breathing. "It's a space station that should be only a few minutes away once we emerge from hyperspace." He gave instructions to their navigation droid and tried to put on a brave face as he watched his mother rock the unconscious girl back and form in her arms. "How's she doing?"

"I've read that a mild coma could be one of the more severe symptoms of the Corellian Flu. Kriff, she must have been sick for longer than we have known. But there's nothing we can do about that until we get to Polis Massa," Winama said as she softly stroked her granddaughter's hair. "At least she can't feel the pain right now."

Ruwee sat down and took Sola's hand in his. With his other arm he cradled Padme close to him. She seemed especially distraught and was stifling sobs every three or four seconds.

"It's my fault, daddy. I'm sorry. I was annoying her and made her really sick." She held on tightly to her father.

"It's not your fault, Paddy." It tore Ruwee's heart apart to see one daughter in such physical pain and the other in a mental torment that no one her age ought to ever experience.

"It's no one's fault, Padme." Winama's soft and matronly voice seemed to reassure everyone in the room. Even Sola seemed to breathe easier as she whispered her words. "Some times bad things happen, and we can't do anything about it. We just have to accept what fortune fate brings us."

"Is she going to die, grandma?"

"I don't know." Winama made a silent decision to tell her granddaughter the truth. It would be cruel to lie to her with false hopes. "We're going to do our best to save her, and I'm sure the emdees at the hospital will too."

Padme didn't respond so Winama continued.

"Paddy, death is just a natural part of life. We're all going to die someday. That cannot be stopped. One of these days I'm going to die. So will your parents, so will you. Even the stars burn out and die."

It was a lot of information for a five-year-old to absorb, but Padme was much more perceptive and intelligent than others her age. And she understood what her grandmother was telling her.

"But there's something that never dies. Do you want to know what that is?" Padme nodded her head. "Love. Love lives forever. I love you, Padme, and so does your father and mother. Very much so. And our love for you will live on even after we die. Don't ever forget that." Seeing Padme's nod of understanding, Winama looked down at Sola. "Sola loves you so much too. And I know you love your sister as well. Nothing will ever take that love between the two of you away, not even death."

Padme sat by herself in the hospital lobby ruminating over her grandmother's words. Her dad and Winama were talking with the emdees somewhere, and Sola was receiving intensive care in another wing. Padme was never a patient child, and it drove her crazy not to know how her sister was doing. Padme suddenly had a compulsion to find her. She wanted to tell Sola that she loved her before she died, if she was going to die.

She ran in no particular direction. The station was a large, with identical hallways that seemed to stretch on forever, and within minutes Padme was lost. Now she was scared, not for herself, but that she would never see her sister again. She found a med-droid and wondered if it could help her.

"Excuse me Mr. droid thing, do you know where Sola Naberrie is." Except she spoke so quickly in a panicked tone that the droid could not tell exactly what she said.

"Snie? Is that who you wanted to find?" It checked the databases. "There is no record of any Snie at this hospital, but there is a Shmi in Maternity Wing C, if that is who…" The droid looked up from its datapad, but the little girl had already ran out of patience and disappeared.

Padme continued to run down the hospital's corridors, peeking into each room for a glimpse of her sister. In her concentration didn't notice a group of healers scurrying down the same corridor until they almost ran into her. As she backed up against the wall to let them through she noticed that one of them was carrying what seemed like a baby and barely caught a few words of their conversation.

"…premature birth…"

"…had to sedate the mother…"

"…doesn't seem to be a father…"

"…the baby's in critical condition…"

"…need to put him on life support…"

Suddenly she forgot about her sister. Something about the group fascinated her, although her brain did not bother give her a reason. She thought about the baby. Everything dies, but it didn't seem fair for that fate to befall a baby. Padme started following the healers down the hallway, knowing that she had to know what happened to the newborn.

The healers took the baby into a room and in their frantic efforts did not notice a little girl sneak in after them. Padme did not avoid their attention on purpose, but she allowed herself to fade in the background of the room so as not to interfere with the healers doing their jobs. They finally left when they seemed satisfied of the baby's condition, and Padme felt a strange relief that she had never experienced before. There would be no more deaths today, she thought.

Curiosity then overtook her. She had never seen a newborn before and wondered what the baby looked like, so she pulled a chair up to the crib and hopped onto it. The sight of the baby almost overwhelmed her with its peaceful innocence. She watched him sleep deeply and wondered if she was this cute when after she was born. The baby soon started to stir.

Padme lost her breath for a second when he opened his eyes for the first time in his life. She leaned over the crib and the two of them examined each other in quiet harmony, both fascinated by what they were seeing. Padme found herself lost in the baby's eyes. They were so blue, as blue as the most beautiful lakes of Naboo. They reminded her of home. She thought of her parents, Winama, and her sister. Seeing the wonder of life gave her a strange feeling of hope. Somehow she knew that Sola was going to be alright. Everything may die eventually, but not today. Today was a special day. Today was a celebration of the gift of life. There was going to be no death today.

The baby started to move its hands and arms, trying to learn the mechanics of his body. One hand went up almost as if it was reaching for the little girl watching him. Padme took the hand and marveled at how small the fingers were, even when compared to hers. She looked back at the infant, and Padme was too young to know that newborns did not know how to smile. She couldn't help but smile back at him, reaching her hand down as far as it could go until landed softly on the baby's head. She let her fingers play with the soft wisps of hair on its head, hair of a beautiful blond color sullied occasionally by a few lighter shades of brown. Her actions seemed to have a tickling effect on the baby, who began to coo softly. Padme laughed too.

Loud footsteps resonated in the hallway towards the room she was in and soon her father and grandmother paced in frantically accompanied by two droids.

"There you are! We've been worried sick about you. Where have you been?" Ruwee should've been cross at his daughter, but he didn't feel mad. There was no anger in him left in him today, not after all that had happened. There was only relief.

Padme looked at the baby for one last time, and ran into the arms of her father. "Sola's going to be fine, right," she asked though she already knew the answer.

"Yes Paddy. She'll be fine. Everything is going to be alright. You gave us a scare, Paddy, but we found you. Everything is going to be alright," he repeated again.

Padme's thoughts suddenly came across another subject. "Daddy, can you buy me a baby for my next birthday?"

Both adults in the room laughed. "Maybe. But you should know that babies don't grow on trees."

"Where do they come from then?"

Ruwee gave his mother a look of horror. Thankfully, Winama had the situation under control.

"Have you ever heard of the stork? It's a magical bird that some say lives on the moons of Iego…"

Ruwee and Winama started to make their way out of the room and Padme eagerly followed them to whatever road fate would take them.

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this more than a decade ago and when I originally posted it, Sola was a rebellious, angry teenager. I didn't know the two sisters were much closer in age in canon, so I had to revise it somewhat to that effect.


End file.
